


Misstep

by asimplewalk



Category: Iron Man (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Injury, Mild Language, Original Character(s)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-19
Updated: 2015-12-19
Packaged: 2018-05-07 12:40:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,736
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5456852
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/asimplewalk/pseuds/asimplewalk
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Pepper Potts is fashion forward enough that this mistake is mortifying. Fortunately, she’s damn stylish when she channels Bambi.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Misstep

**Author's Note:**

  * For [TallyDubh](https://archiveofourown.org/users/TallyDubh/gifts).



> Silliness.
> 
> Beta'd by the lovely recipient. All recognizable pieces belong to the proper rights and licensing holders. All other stuff (mistakes particularly) are mine.

Pepper is mortified when one misstep, despite her careful, certain stride, sends her Bambi-ing across the sidewalk outside a business that she’d just settled a software deal with. When she wipes out, it’s in a drastic and spectacular fashion that probably was hilarious for everyone else present. She lays there for half a second, unsure if she’s just died and ascended to some new plane of embarrassment, or if her ankle is simply broken.

The sweet young boys that had designed the software are offering to help her up and back into the building, and the higher-ups of the company are all still somewhat startled that she’d just eaten shit because she hadn’t thought to wear flats that morning. It’s a further embarrassment, because she waves them off, apologizing for the scare and shock, insisting that she’s fine to go. Jackson, her new assistant, is kind enough to pull the car up very close, and help the bigger of the designers (he’s surprisingly steady and sturdy) load her into the car.

Jackson, she then decides, is an ass, because he insists on taking her to an urgent care to have her ankle looked at. Which, she decides, is probably for the better when it turns out that her tibia is broken and she has a partially torn tendon. She gets put into a splint and the doctors insist that she use a wheelchair for the next few days.

Which is just great, because she still has another three major meetings.

Pepper feels silly through the following two days. She decides that poor Jackson is definitely going to be getting a very nice bonus for all his hard work, and a decent raise. He’s very sweet, helpful, honest, and generally considerate, while also not taking any shit about his boss being a little out of commission. He also understands her drive to still do things in person. All said, it’s four days from hell, and a day of flying there, and another back, to New York. 

Which, for whatever reason (tech upgrades and because he misses his friends), Tony had insisted that she be picked up from the airport in California and brought in to the Avengers Facility, instead of to the tower. Natasha, upon seeing her in the aircast, huffs and very carefully and considerately lets Pepper crutch out of the private plane and helps her into the quinjet.

“Was the sidewalk too bloody to give you traction to walk, my lady?” Pepper smiles at the woman’s teasing, and laughs when Jackson snorts at the woman. “She deserves to be an Avenger more than Tony, she can actually kick ass.”

“Nah, just- Not saying that Miss Potts doesn’t make a great startled deer face, but that was a great startled deer face when she wiped out.” Jackson winks at Natasha, talks to her without panicking, and that’s how he earns a forever place in Pepper’s heart. This boy is a valuable asset worth keeping around.

\--

They land in New York a little more than an hour and a half later, because Natasha is comfortable at flying at godless, awful speeds, and Jackson takes to it like a damn natural, even though Pepper feels a little breathless and dizzy by the end. She tells herself it’s the pain meds. She dismisses her assistant, and huffs when she sees Tony bouncing on the balls of his feet when the rear hatch of the jet opens, a few of the others there to greet her, as well.

Her boyfriend is a sweetheart, and she sometimes sees an overeager puppy in him, so when he bounds up into the plane and stops short at the sight of her: ankle in the remarkably unfashionable grey plastic-and-foam cast and a very unflattering gym shoe, her old cutoffs, and a bogarted Michael Jackson concert tee… Pepper’s not surprised. But then, she also is, because he waves Tasha off with a tight smile and asks her to go and let Helen know they’re coming.

“Tony, no, I can be a wounded adult, just like every other person.” Pepper chuckles and gently touches his cheek, “I’ll be alright.”

“Then why do you look tired, loopy, and like a sour patch kid?” He reaches up and holds her palm against his face, other settling on the knee of her left, her good, leg.

“Pain meds, a broken ankle, and the embarrassment of falling on my ass in front of the whole team of people when I left the deal-maker meeting with BOA Softworks.” She huffs and reaches for the crutches, but the hand he’d had on her knee settles against her hip and holds her in place. “Tony, please.”

“Nope. A wheelchair or I’m carrying you. We’re right by medical, and Helen can get this handled in a couple hours and with little fuss.” His eyes are large and bright, and the soft smirk on his face tells her this isn’t going to end well.

“I have done perfectly well on my crutches, Tony. I played soccer when I was a kid; I’m great at this.” He’s still staring her down, and after a beat of silence, he makes a fart noise with his mouth. “No! Let me have at least a little dignity, because a wheelchair is not-” She yelps and then shrieks, because her boyfriend has scooped her up and is carrying her off the jet.

“You had two options, and you said no to the wheelchair.” The shrug in his words makes her huff, and she hears Steve and Sam being at least polite enough to try and hold in their laughter when they pass to handle the jet. Because Tasha really had landed right by medical.

“This is even less what I wanted than the wheelchair, Tony.” At this point, they are going through the doors, and the medical team are polite and blank-faced, and it’s something of a relief.

“Well, then you should have picked the wheelchair! But knowing you as well as I do- wha- Hey, don’t give me that look, Pep. Knowing you like I do, you’re going to want to be done with this and back to full man-eating, ass-kicking, gorgeous queen in sharp heels as fast as possible.” 

Clint is getting stitches, sat in one of the chairs, as they pass. He waves at her and makes a ridiculous face at her. Wanda is sat in one of the beds with an icepack against her neck and with an ace wrap around one of her wrists.

“Pepper! It’s good to see you again, even if you’re my patient this time!” Dr. Cho, Helen, is a very kind, straightforward, and generally wonderful woman. “Natasha took the liberty of accessing and sending to me your medical file; in this chair, please, Stark.” She also has a separate tone, just for idiots like Tony.

“Oh, certainly. Tony, please get out. I love you, but I also know that you’ll try and tease me about this.” When the genius hikes his eyebrows, looks around, then looks back to her, eyebrows hiking up even higher, she rolls her eyes. “Out, and no spying.”

Tony huffs, but seems to aquies well enough, so she takes it as a win.

Helen pulls over a chair and sits, tablet in hand, presumably with her files pulled up. “So, what happened?”

“I’m an idiot. I was wearing heels while there was ice on the ground, I took a step wrong, made the best fawn-on-ice impression I could, and… whoops.” She makes a careless wave at her ankle, because she knows the woman in front of her isn’t about to judge, tease, or assume things about her. 

“I see why you kicked your beau out. He’s not likely to be able to bribe it out of your assistant, is he?” Which, actually, would dictate whether her adorable, witty, capable Jackson would be able to stay or not, in the end, no matter how much she liked him.

“We’ll see. So, what’s the procedure?” Pepper has to fight the urge to cross her legs at the knee the way she would have usually.

“I’ll need a bone and marrow sample to file, that way we’ll be able to prep the cradle faster in the future, and also that we can get you up on both feet under your full strength as fast as possible.” Helen made a slight gesture with one hand, “You don’t have any issue with needles, do you?”

“None, although the larger they are, the more daunting. Like a lot of things.” Pepper sighed and hummed, feeling her phone vibrate for the fifth time in probably as many minutes.

“Well, if you can move your waistband down some, I can take the sample from your hip. And you can even answer that in the meantime.” Oh, she knew what was up. Pepper nodded then, and reached down to pop the button of her jeans, making it easier to shift the top of her shorts out of the way, and pulled her phone out.

She unlocked it and swiped into the texts, seeing several from Jackson, “Alright, Pepper, take a deep breath, and when you start breathing out, I’ll insert the needle. Keep breathing as steadily as you can. You’ll feel anything from a light pinch to a sharp stab, depending on your pain tolerance.”

Pepper held her waistband down a little further, and took a deep breath, focusing on the texts then. A picture of Tony, pouting at the camera, _’He is trying to bribe me for the details, I’d rather get busy with a beehive.’_ ; a plain text, _’My apologies for the language and imagery.’_ ; Another picture, this one of Natasha sitting on Tony’s shoulders, feet behind his back in a tight hold, hands over his eyes and mouth, _already trying to spy, caught by the master_ ; another text with several beer emojis and _’They are a bunch of children, Sam and Clint are talking about recreating a ‘picking up chicks at the gym’ video?_ and the link to the video; then, _’You are a queen everyday, but I appreciate it even more, seeing the court jesters.’_

Pepper is chuckling, even through the sharp, stinging pain in her hip, and then it’s gone, a deep soreness blooming in it’s wake. “So, are we all set for the next step?” She looks up to the good doctor.

“Yes! You are welcome to wait in here the hour it’ll take me to get everything set up, or I can have some crutches brought to you so that you can wait out in the main portion of the infirmary.” The happy smile she’s bestowed warms Pepper over again, and she is really appreciative that she has such an amazing resource that she has access to.

“Thank you so much, really. It’s such a wonder, what you can do, and a blessing.” She smiles back, and then unlocks her phone again to send Jackson a text, _’Fetch my crutches, handmaiden.’_

The response is immediate from the young man, _’!!! Immediately, my liege!’_

What she gets instead is Tony coming back in. Pepper immediately points at him, opening her mouth to try and argue. Before she can get a breath in, though, he says, “Oh, yes.”

“Tony, no!” Pepper uses her good foot to wheel her chair back some. “Absolutely not.”

Tony’s response is to look at her, then make another fart noise; this time employing his palm, before diving in to scoop her up and carry her to the bed next to Wanda’s. 

“Really, Tony? What, did you see Jackson go for the crutches and come running to beat him to the punch?” She doesn’t feel bad pinching his neck as he sets her down.

“Ouch! Hey, I’m trying to be helpful!” He pokes her in the shoulder, and is stoutly ignoring the people around them, which, it seems, is down to Tasha, Wanda, and Steve.

“Well, quit. It’s sweet, and I appreciate the thought, but you’re making me look like an idiot.” She huffs and pokes him right back. At this point, she’s tired, sore, and so embarrassed that she’s willing to snap at him a little.

Tony narrows his eyes at her, clearly considering his options. “Is it the immature fart noises or the carrying?”

“Both, you gigantic child!” She rolls her eyes, but she hasn’t pulled away, the usual signal that she’s not too mad or frustrated with him.

“I’ll think about it. I promise it says more about me than you, since you’re yelling at me.” He presses a kiss to her cheek, loud and smacking sound included. “So, I’m going to go see Rhodey’s back give out when he tries to join in on the Terrible Bird Brother Life Choices. Deadlifting people, I mean really.” Natasha laughs and gives Pepper a wink. Steve looks after the two as they leave. 

“You don’t have to stay and supervise us, Steve. Both us women are sensible enough to stay put until we are cleared.” Wanda’s teasing tone makes the soldier and CEO chuckle. 

“I feel like I should be discouraging them, or at least spotting one of them, but… I don’t really want to move, and it’s quiet in here.” He looks around then and fetches a chair to sit in, propping his heels against the foot of his teammate’s bed. It’s then that Pepper notices a bruise across his temple.

“Naptime, old man?” Wanda’s teasing tone earns her a wry smile and a point from the man, “Sleep, Steve. We all earned it this afternoon.”

\--

Pepper gets halfway through a second email after that before she unintentionally dozes, only to have Helen offer her a set of crutches so that she can hobble back into the room with the cradle.

The experience is certainly novel. Her ankle feels sharp, sore, and alternating incredibly cold and then searingly hot; the bright light and the near silent hum of the machine should be unsettling, but between the exhausting work she does and the painkillers, she dozes then through the procedure once she’s taken in as much of it as her mind can stand.

All said, she’s told later, it takes half an hour for her bone to mend and the tear of the tendon to heal over. Dr. Cho puts her foot is put into a splint and wraps it up before having three of the nurses transfer into the bed she’d been in before.

\--

Pepper wakes again, later that evening, to her head in Tony’s lap, and him quietly humming a tune she doesn’t recognize while he reads something on a tablet he has balanced on the thigh opposite her face. It’s considerately been dimmed and is tilted in a way that it won’t shine in her face. “See, you can be quiet and helpful without being an ass.”

Tony looks down at her, then back to the tablet, where he’s bookmarking his place and locking the device before setting it aside. He smiles gently at her, brushing her hair off her forehead to lean down and press a kiss against her brow. He pulls away and licks his lips, and Pepper immediately pushes at his hip, knowing what’s coming. He still plants his palm against his mouth and makes a loud, disgusting fart noise. She can’t help the laugh that bubbles out of her. “You huge manchild!”

“I love you too, Pep. So, what do you say, let me take the wrap off your foot? Doc has cleared you to walk, as long as you have your gym shoes on the rest of tonight and tomorrow.” He smiles at her before rolling off the bed to stand and motion to her foot.

“After the week I’ve had? Yes, that sounds just about perfect.” She smiles at her boyfriend, knowing that in the late evening, with no-one obviously around (the medical staff have things to do, and from her stomach’s protests, it’s probably time for dinner), he’s as wrapped around her finger as when they’re at home.

“What would make it perfect?” He has that openly sweet look, and that’s what she’d actually wanted, but she’s not above taking the chance, anyhow.

“A footrub, and then I’d like to see everyone before we go home.” She sighs happily as he immediately sits at the foot of the bed, a crease of concentration between his eyes as he immediately sets about the task she’d set before him.

**Author's Note:**

> So, a lovely couple I know had an interaction, namely the man making a fart noise and being stern-silly at his wife and her broken leg- and the fact that he made the fart noise kinda sparked a thought. This is the result, and I'm not sure if I should be sorry. Also, not sure if this is gonna get tacked into another forming 'verse?
> 
> You can always find me on [askbox](http://www.crownsandashes.tumblr.com>tumblr</a>,%20even%20send%20me%20prompts%20through%20my%20<a%20href=)!
> 
> Oh, and you can find my super wonderful incidental beta on her [](http://www.taleasedubhwriting.tumblr.com>writing%20blog</a>!)


End file.
